The Tortoise with Brooke McAlary

Platonic sparks fly in today’s episode, when Brooke sits down with Meg Berryman of Beyond Being Well. Meg is a women’s coach, mum, yoga teacher, empowerment educator and fabulous no-BS human. We couldn’t wait to have her on the show to talk about her work and especially the link between making changes for ourselves and making changes for the collective, which is something Brooke has felt herself being pulled toward more and more. Meg talks about the journey from wellness to wholeness to igniting social change – a shift from self to collective focus. She touches on the importance of discovering what wellness is to us as individuals, connecting to the body, why we need compassion in the face of patriarchy and capitalism and so much more. This conversation was truly effortless but engaging, and we hope you enjoy! Questions featured in this episode: What does wellness mean to you? How can people can start to explore what wellness looks like for them? Do you think it’s a counter-cultural move to fully explore your own wholeness? Do you find that a lot of people reach the point of wanting to shift their focus from the self to the collective in their explorations of wholeness? Looking for more Slow? Find show notes, resources and links at slowyourhome.com/season2/ Follow us on Instagram @slowhomepod Sign up for our love letters Join the Slow Experiment Club over on Patreon Or leave a rating or review in iTunes As always, thank you for listening!Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to this week’s poggie! Today Brooke talks to zero-waste blogger and YouTuber Christine Liu of Simply By Christine. Christine is not only a great source of practical information in the low-waste world, she also talks about her experience in her previous job at Cisco where she was instrumental in organising the Green Team network. This initiative brought sustainability to the workplace, and is a great example of how to create real-world, community-based change in our own lives. Christine shares how the Green Teams initiative started small and then grew throughout the entire organisation, as well as the impact it had on her own efforts to live more sustainably, as well as those of her colleagues. Christine also talks about her low-waste wedding and the challenges of owning a pet while living sustainably. Questions featured in this episode: What is a Green Team? Why and how did you start it? Do you have any suggestions for where people can start making changes in their own workplace? Where did your personal zero-waste journey start? Any tips for where to start with zero-waste and pets? How has simplifying your life impacted your mental health? What were the reactions you received from friends and family around your zero-waste wedding? Any tips for people planning their wedding or big event who are keen to minimise waste? Looking for more Slow? Find show notes, resources and links at slowyourhome.com/season2/ Follow us on Instagram @slowhomepod Sign up for our love letters Join the Slow Experiment Club over on Patreon Or leave a rating or review in iTunes As always, thank you for listening!Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today Brooke shares her conversation with the delicious and delightful Rebecca Sullivan. The two first spoke on the podcast back in 2017, and since then Rebecca has published four (!!) books, with another on the way, and moved from an apartment in Adelaide to a closed loop eco-farm in the Clare Valley. There’s just a bit for the two to catch up on, so we thought it was about time! Rebecca reflects on the challenges and joys that living on the land have brought so far, how paying attention to nature and slowing down have come hand-in-hand, living with fear, failure and taking risks and the aim of her new work: reconciliation on a plate Questions featured in this episode: What’s the transition been like as you moved to the farm, from theory to reality? How do you think about your own environmental impact? What does it practically look like to live in a circular (closed-loop) house? What was the seed for the idea of Warndu - both the company and the book? Looking for more Slow? Find show notes, resources and links at slowyourhome.com/season2/ Follow us on Instagram @slowhomepod Sign up for our love letters Join the Slow Experiment Club over on Patreon Or leave a rating or review in iTunes As always, thank you for listening!Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week Brooke is joined by early-childhood educator April Hepokoski for a fascinating discussion about all things child-led and nature-based learning. April is the founder and teacher at The Little Barnyard Preschool in Duluth, Minnesota, where she centres learning around being outside in nature every single day. April also founded a zero-waste living group on her local community, where she shares tips and tricks for living with less waste as well as lobbying the city council to make changes in her town. There are so many parallels between slow living and the approach of nature-based learning, and April is a prime example of someone taking action into their own hands in every aspect of her life. We hope you enjoy this inspiring (and practical) chat about learning, nature and grassroots change. Questions featured in this episode: When did you first become interested in zero-waste living? How did you structure a localised zero-waste living group? What is the philosophy or mission of The Little Barnyard Preschool? What caused you to combine child-led learning with nature-based learning? What does nature-based learning look like on a day-to-day basis? What do parents say? What benefits and differences do they see? How can people begin to bring this philosophy into their own home if there are no nature-based learning offerings in their area? What can educators do to start to bring nature-based learning into their school? Any resources or recommendations on how to start the conversation? Do you have any tips for bringing zero-waste principles into the classroom? Looking for more Slow? Find show notes, resources and links at slowyourhome.com/season2/ Follow us on Instagram @slowhomepod Sign up for our love letters Join the Slow Experiment Club over on Patreon Or leave a rating or review in iTunes As always, thank you for listening!Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week’s Brooke sits down for a heartfelt discussion with Jojo Hogan: founder of the Slow Postpartum movement, yoga teacher, aromatherapist, massage therapist and doula. Jojo has been working with expectant mothers for many years, and now specialises as a postpartum doula, providing much needed support to mothers after giving birth. There are so many beautiful intersections between slow living principles and the postpartum care practices that Jojo provides and educates around, and especially considering her own experience as a new mother, Brooke was so excited to have Jojo on the show. Brooke and Jojo talk about the pillars of postpartum care that cultures around the world share, the importance of deciding your parenting values before baby arrives, how women can create their own villages to support them after birth, and ways to bring more slow and presence to a stressful time. Questions featured in this episode: When did your own journey of slowing down and simplifying begin? What prompted it? When did you begin working with new parents? What does a slow postpartum look like? What’s something realistic that a new parent can do to bring some slowness into those early days post-birth? How can we approach the ‘stuff’ that often comes with having a baby with a slower, more conscious mindset? Looking for more Slow? Find show notes, resources and links at slowyourhome.com/season2/ Follow us on Instagram @slowhomepod Sign up for our love letters Join the Slow Experiment Club over on Patreon Or leave a rating or review in iTunes As always, thank you for listening!Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we welcome back listener chats, as Brooke sits down to talk with Xan Holyoak. Xan is a listener of the show, a writer, a single parent and a slow living and nature loving woman. She first reached out to us after the nature experiment last year, and the more Brooke learned about her story, the more she wanted to share Xan’s wisdom with our wider community. So here we go! In today’s chat Xan and Brooke talk about when she first started to slow things down, why she started writing about it on her blog, how her life changed after her husband suddenly passed away in 2015 and how she lives slowly now as a single, working parent. There’s a wonderful thread throughout the conversation of the importance of values, journaling and boundaries, and we hope you enjoy. Questions featured in this episode: Where did your journey to slow living/simplifying start? Why did you start your blog? Tell us about the way life changed after your husband died in 2015. How do you make everyday work, as a single parent, working mum and living slowly? Let’s talk about our shared love of journaling as a self-care practice. When do you journal? Looking for more Slow? Find show notes, resources and links at slowyourhome.com/season2/ Follow us on Instagram @slowhomepod Sign up for our love letters Join the Slow Experiment Club over on Patreon Or leave a rating or review in iTunes As always, thank you for listening!Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to season 2 of the Slow Home Podcast! Today Brooke sits down with goals coach, co-founder of Rock Your Bliss and incredible public speaker/human Jacki Carr. Brooke did some work with Jacki last year before embarking on the Slow book tour and it had the most enormous impact on her time on the road. So she was determined to chat with Jacki this season, and especially at this time of year, as there’s so much buzz about resolutions, goals and general New Year vibes, which is all Jacki’s passion. Brooke and Jacki cover so much in this conversation, talking all things resolutions, change, defining and committing to goals, values, balance, community and how to use social media as a tool for connection rather than a crutch, by consistently returning to your values. Questions featured in this episode: How do you help people define their values? How do you encourage people to keep re-centering on their values even when life happens? Have you intentionally developed a crew of people in your corner to support you in living with your values? What are your thoughts on balance? Do you look for ease in situations, or always look to expansion? When did developing in-person communities become important to you? Do you have any tools you use to help social media be a way to connect rather than a crutch? Looking for more Slow? Find show notes, resources and links at slowyourhome.com/season2/ Follow us on Instagram @slowhomepod Sign up for our love letters Join the Slow Experiment Club over on Patreon Or leave a rating or review in iTunes As always, thank you for listening!Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to the fifth and final episode of the Summer Series (/Winter Warmies!) For all of January, we’ve been bringing back the best of 2018, re-sharing some of our favourite episodes to keep you company on the beach (or the slopes!) Last but not least, this week is our episode with the awesome Jocelyn Glei, writer and creator of the podcast Hurry Slowly. Now seemed like the perfect time to feature Brooke’s chat with Jocelyn, as they focus on the relationship between technology, work, life, slow and creativity, as we all get back into the swing of work after the holidays. Jocelyn shares so many great resources with us, and we hope you find something to explore from this episode. Head over to http://slowyourhome.com/234/ for all the links and resources mentioned, as well as the full blog post. And we’ll see you in February for the new season of the show! ==== If you're enjoying the show and want to know how to best support it, leave a rating or a review in iTunes or head over to the Patreon page to help support the show financially. And thanks so much for listening! ===Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to the fourth episode of the Summer Series (/Winter Warmies)! For all of January, we’ll be bringing back the best of 2018, re-sharing some of our favourite episodes to keep you company on the beach (or the slopes!) This week we’re heading back on the road, with Brooke’s conversation with friend of the show Tsh Oxenreider on the Slow Book Tour. This was a live recording at an event in Austin, Texas, featuring a lovely audience full of great questions that Brooke and Tsh got to answer. The two of them also spoke about what slow living looks like for them in real life, their thoughts on balance, what they see minimalism and simplicity morphing into in the age of social media and so much more. It’s an inspiring chat, so we hope you enjoy! To read more about the episode, head over to http://slowyourhome.com/251/ for all the links and resources mentioned, as well as the full blog post.  ==== If you're enjoying the show and want to know how to best support it, leave a rating or a review in iTunes or head over to the Patreon page to help support the show financially. And thanks so much for listening! ===Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to the third episode of the Summer Series (Winter Warmies!) For all of January, we’ll be bringing back the best of 2018, re-sharing some of our favourite episodes to keep you company on the beach (or the slopes!) Today we’re highlighting one of the most-loved episodes of last year - when Brooke interviewed Ben about his slow living journey. What started out as a chance to turn the tables and switch the spotlight ended up being a deeply personal and raw conversation. Ben talks about how he went from working a stressful, corporate job to being self-employed, and how he continues to make choices to live a slower life. So many people connected with this episode, which is why we decided to include it in the Summer Series. If it resonates, we’d love for this to start a new conversation about slow with your loved ones. It’s the perfect time of year to check in and examine your priorities for 2019, so we hope this helps! To read more about the episode, head over to http://slowyourhome.com/242/ for all the links and resources mentioned, as well as the full blog post. ==== If you're enjoying the show and want to know how to best support it, leave a rating or a review in iTunes or head over to the Patreon page to help support the show financially. And thanks so much for listening! ===Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.